The present invention relates to an improved housing pack for housing a component of photographic processing mixture, and more particularly, to a container for housing the component of photographic processing mixture. The housing pack is durable when it is subjected to an attack of photographic processing solution which is unnecessary to be prepared, and facilitates a handling of a waste solution of the photographic processing solution.
Most of photographic processing solutions, which are used when photographic materials are exposed and developed, have oxidizing and reducing powers and are susceptible to air oxidation.
Sulfites are added to developers and color developing agents as preservatives so that the sulfites may prevent the developers and the color developing agents from being air-oxidized as much as possible. Sulfites are also added to fixing solutions and bleach-fix solution because they are also air-oxidized, with the result that sodium hyposulfite is decomposed to liberate sulfur, which may cause serious accidents. Sulfites are also added to a stabilizing solution for non-water washing treatment to prevent a fungicide from degrading as a result of air oxidation. In spite of the addition of sulfites to the above-described photographic processing solutions, they degrade as a result of air oxidation when they are preserved more than two weeks in a ready-to-use kit container such as bottles and bags conventionally used made of polyethylene film (flexible containers called Scholle pack in trade name). Accordingly, they are supplied with users in the form of a kit separately packed which contains a component of a photographic processing mixture. They are dissolved in a solution by using water just before use so as to exhaust it in a short period of time.
Therefore, photofinishing laboratories are required to prepare a photofinishing solution by dissolving packs one by one, thus causing troublesome works. Users are required to wait for several or several tens of minutes before a chemical in a pack is completely dissolved while they continue kneading the chemical in the solution, thereafter users have to start dissolving a next chemical, thus requiring many hands and much time. Recently, photofinishing operations have been increasingly carried out by small laboratories. Further, recently, portable automatic developing machines and photofinishing machines have increasingly marketed for non-professional user operations with packs containing chemicals separately packed in a kit. Therefore, users find it difficult to distinguish the contents obtained in one pack from those contained in others, which leads to erroneous dissolvings of contents in packs. Needless to say, this causes serious photographic troubles, because recently photofinishing operations are carried out more and more by employees of camera shops.
In addition to such a trouble as described above, there has arisen one more serious problem, that is, photographic treatments have recently been carried out without water, so that no drainage pipes have become necessary and many automatic developing machines, in which respective over-flowed photographic processing solution is collected by a corresponding waste solution collecting tanks, have marketed. This is very desirable from the viewpoint of pollution prevention, however, serious accidents may occur: Although such machines are equipped with alarm buzzers to warn workers in charge that the waste solution collecting tanks has become full of a foul solution, there happens a case in which a worker forgets replacing the tank while they are engaged in other works, in which case, the waste solution flows on a floor, which may lead to a serious accident.
Now that a photographic processing operations performed only by professionals has been increasingly carried out by non-professional users, it can be safely said that they want a photographic processing solution housing pack which eliminates the need for a troublesome work of dissolving contents separately packed in a kit one by one and the need for operating photographical processing work without worrying about controlling a waste solution and keeps quality of a photographic processing solution.
The present invention further relates to a container of waste photographic treatment solution, and more specifically, to a container of waste solution capable of easily accommodating said waste solution into the waste solution collecting chamber even when there is no pressure applied to the waste solution.
Generally, in the photographic treatment of a silver halide photosensitive material, the development, fixing, and washing by water of a black-and-white photosensitive material or the processes of color development, bleach to fix (or bleaching and fixing), washing by water and stabilization have been performed by using a treating solution with one or 2 or more of said functions.
And in the photographic treatment processing a great deal of photosensitive materials, a means capable of replenishing consumed component by treatment on the one hand and capable of maintaining the performances of the processing solution by removing the increased components in it resulting from treatment (for example, a bromide iron in a developing solution, and silver complex salt in a fixing solution) on the other is employed. Thus a replenishing solution is supplied to the processing solution and part of the processing solution is discarded to remove an increased component in the aforementioned photographic treatment.
In recent years, from the viewpoint to prevent environmental pollution and to maintain cost performance ratio at a low level, there has been a tendency for such system to change to a system capable of accomplishing the object by using a substantially reduced replenishing amount of solution including rinsing water. The waste solution is led through a drainage tube from the treating tank of the automatic processor, and is then diluted by washing water and discarded into a sewer system.
In the meantime, from the viewpoint of a limitation in the available water resource, a rise in the cost of water supply and drainage, ease of installation of an automatic processor and working environment in the peripheral of an automatic processor, photographic treatment by means of an automatic processor (Nonwater washing automatic processor) that does not require a tubing for water supply and drainage for washing-water outside of the automatic processor has come to be widely used. It is said that, if possible, such a system should be devoid of cooling water also to maintain the processing solution at a constant temperature.
Under such photographic treatment, the only drainage solution from the automatic processor is a waste solution resulting from replacing by a replenishing solution and a photographic treatment system of this kind is characterized by its substantially reduced amount of waste solution compared with those having a water treatment system. Therefore, said system permits the removal of tubing outside of the developing processor for solution supply and drainage resulting in the overcoming of all of the following shortcomings inherent in the conventional automatic processor:
1. An automatic processor is difficult to be moved after installation because of tubing installed.
2. Conventional system afford only a small leg space and a great deal of money is required for tubing work upon installation.
3. Expenses related to energy to supply hot water are required.
This may bring such great advantages as to permit the automatic processor to be made compact and simplified to the extent whereby it can be used as an office machine.
The conventional automatic processors, however, require at least both a processing solution container that supplied a processing solution and a waste solution container that accommodates waste solution, though they are undoubtedly a compact equipment. When the waste solution container is used for color photography, a space for 2 solution each for color development, bleaching and fixing, and stabilizing treatment for non-water washing treatment totaling 6 containers must be provided.
Recently, an attempt has been made to use a so-called flexible container as a waste solution container aiming at the ease of handling as shown in FIG. 5, for example. A container of this kind is produced by sealing such material as laminate film and it is in a flat shape until it collects waste solution. And when collecting waste solution, opening portion 5 needs to be supported. Namely, when container 1 is created by using a flexible material, to stabilize the position of opening 5 of container 1 upon using it as a solution collecting container, an auxiliary plate 8 as shown in FIG. 5 is used. Said auxiliary plate 8 is formed by using such hard material as synthetic resins and metals and consists of top portion 9, side portion 10 and bottom portion 11. On the top portion 9, an opening fixing section 12 to fix opening 5 of container 1 is provided. The opening 5 should be fixed by being caught on said opening fixing section 12 and should be positioned just below the waste solution outlet.
The details of a photographic technology to use a waste solution container by dividing it into two with a partition have already been disclosed in Japanese patent publication open to public inspection (hereinafter referred to as Japanese patent O.P.I. publication) Nos. 55942/1980, 131155/1981 and 52065/1983 and Japanese utility model O.P.I. publication No. 94754/1981. A container in accordance with these techniques can serve simultaneously as a processing solution container and a waste solution container thereby saving a space for several containers.
When attempting to accommodate waste solution into a flexible waste solution container as shown in the aforementioned FIG. 5 or into one of the rooms divided into two mentioned above, it has become clear that unless the waste solution is given a sufficient pressure to enter the room of container by expanding the partition, the transfer of waste solution into said room may stop or waste solution may overflow. This problem may be solved by installing a pump in the waste solution line but it will push up the cost of the equipment.